Delaney believes this term will be even more challenging than last season

Nottingham director of rugby Glenn Delaney believes his side are capable of a top-four finish in the Championship this season.

Although a top-eight spot guarantees a place in the play-offs, Delaney feels the Green & Whites should aim higher.

"We'd like to feel we can push hard for a top-four slot," Delaney told BBC Radio Nottingham.

Nottingham start their season at Meadow Lane on Sunday with a home game against big-spending London Welsh.

And Delaney feels this term will be even more challenging than last season, when they finished fourth but lost in the group stages of the play-offs.

Exeter gained promotion from the Championship last year, meaning that there are now two clubs in the league with recent top-flight experience in Worcester and Bristol.

"Worcester will without a shadow of a doubt have the best team on paper," Delaney continued.

"Then there's Bristol too who failed at the final hurdle last year. Couple that with London Welsh who have spent £1.3 million this summer, which is unbelievable, so you'd expect them to be up near the top.

"Bedford will always be a good side, plus the [Cornish] Pirates and ourselves who have been fairly consistent over the last few years."

And with recent off-field issues settled, Delaney can now concentrate on the rugby side of his job, ensuring that Nottingham continue to move forward in an increasingly hard league.

My job is to get this team performing Nottingham director of rugby Glenn Delaney

"The key thing for me is the rugby and worrying about that," he said. "The nice thing will be on Sunday that we are into the league programme.

"The reality is that my job is to get this team performing, and performing well consistently over the long period of the season - that's where my focus needs to be."

However Nottingham suffered several pre-season losses, including a 54-7 defeat against Leicester Tigers and a 34-23 reverse at the hands of Northampton Saints.

But Delaney, whose new signings include fly-half James Arlidge, Spanish full-back Cesar Sempere Padilla and prop Ben Prescott, believes that his side are well prepared ahead of the new Championship campaign.

"My attitude has always been let's play harder games in pre-season than we would in the season. The reality is that winning or losing pre-season doesn't really matter too much at all," he said.

"I don't think they're really a barometer of how well you are going to do in a season, they're just a good opportunity to exercise the legs and put some training plans in place."

Arlidge left Newport after two years at the Dragons

But testing the players on the pitch against Premiership opposition is not enough for Delaney, who worked his players to the limit in a training camp in Shrewsbury.

Under the guidance of the RAF, the squad was pushed to gain a physical and mental edge.

On the camp, Delaney commented: "It was fantastic. There were lots of team-building activities and the RAF guys put a fantastic programme on for us, we are really grateful to them for that.

"There were opportunities to see guys in the flight simulator, on battle exercises and dealing with the high ropes. They all faced hard situations and we got a huge amount out of it."

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